Lay me down on a bed of roses

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! The angels of correct grammar and writing are descending from the heavens rejoicing that a song is using correct grammar.
My little sister was listening to her iTouch in my car the other day and the song "If I die young" from the The Band Perry comes on (http://youtu.be/7NJqUN9TClM). As she's singing to it I listen to the words and I notice that the song is actually grammatically correct. Hurray for smart songwriters!
What really got me to like this pop/country band is the line "Lay me down on a bed of roses". Most of the time singers ignore the rules for lie and lay and just put things however they want.
Lay is when an object is being put down and lie is when you put yourself down. I lay the baby on my bed every morning. I lie on the bed when I fall asleep. However, this is only in the present. When we get all complicated and start thinking about past tense and past participle we can reference Grammar Girl (http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/lay-versus-lie.aspx). In reality she explains it best. BUT, and this is a big but, as a writer myself, I try to avoid rules that are too complicated to remember. Of course, there are times when it is inevitable and you have to look up the rule (hopefully you do when you are unsure). For the most part I just use another set of words to get my point across. Most of the time it sounds better.
When you lie down, you are doing just that: Lying down. How about we add some character to that action? You throw yourself on the bed. You crumble onto the bed. You slink down on the bed. You get the point. Don't get stuck using one set of words. Expand yourself, and always remember to use the correct grammar.

Happy grammar,
KLM

Rewriting: Breaking down my grade-school fears.

I'm not new to writing. I've been writing in diaries since the age of eight. Ever since I saw the movie Harriet the Spy (yes, I'm that young) I have been obsessed with writing. However, I was never really into cataloging life's events. I turned my boring, mundane life into something magical. Something, at times, beyond my imagination. If during recess I was playing on the see-saw, I would rush home and write in my diary how I was on a ship sailing in the rough, choppy ocean, looking for the sirens.
When Big Fish came out seven years later I was mesmerized. I felt like the film was speaking to me. My writing only increased. Until recently have I decided to take my writing more seriously. I never imagined that it would be such a process. I never imagined how much work and thought goes into writing a 'good' novel. I'm determined to make sure my novel isn't compared to other novels that I find lacking in the art of writing. Due to this I have begun the rewriting process.
I remember in grade school that we would have short writing assignments. Of course, these were my favorite assignments to complete. Even as a young child, though, people couldn't understand my writing. I've always written with more depth than expected. And my humor was always darker than most other kids. My teachers always made me rewrite my assignments and have them finish with an actual ending: a happy ending. I dreaded rewriting. I would feel anxious and nervous, and I always felt how unfair it was to be asked to rewrite my story.
Now, I see the importance. You can only rewrite to make the story better, right? I mean, why rewrite it to make it worse? I stumbled upon this article: http://grammar.about.com/od/advicefromthepros/a/rewritequotes.htm .
Even the greats rewrote over and over again.
So (raising shot glass), here goes to rewriting, making the story better, and making sure each word counts. (I swallow the shot of vodka whole and slam it on the desk).

In honor of the Hunger Games

I am a big fan of The Hunger Games. One of the few YA books I think is well-written. I just finished reading an article about the names in the series (http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/03/21/the_hunger_games_names_explained.html). It got me thinking about the book I'm writing. I finished it about two months ago and until now I'm starting the rewriting process. Anyways, When I was first writing it everyone's name was X, Mr. X, or Mrs. X. Until I was finishing up the story did I appoint each character a name. Just as in The Hunger Games, the names I gave my characters are indicative of their personalities and history, and even future.
Do you think this is common practice for all writers? Every time I read a book, I look up the meaning of names.  Just to get more of an idea of the character. Sometimes, it's obvious that they don't mean anything. However, other times, it's just as much part of the story are the story itself.

Who or Whom? That is the question!

Everyday I find something new about the English language; especially the written English language. The funny thing is a while back I put on Twitter, "Relearning the English language. Is that even possible?" Oh yes, it is possible. It's impossible to have all the rules memorized and with constant changes every year, how can we not continuously 'relearn' it?
This morning I was going through my old college textbook on grammar and language usage, when I stumbled upon an interesting little box. You know, those boxes to the side of the page; the "at a glance" boxes. Well, I found something I had never known. Well, something I never thought about it really. When to use who and whom. Is there even a difference between the two. Let me describe it to you as it is written in the "at a glance" box:

        To check for the correct use of who and whom (and whoever and whomever), try substituting he or        
        him. If he is correct, use who (or whoever); if him, use whom or whomever.

Interesting, isn't it? Let's try an example.

        Who took my coffee?
         - He took my coffee. So it stays as who, because you were able to answer he (or they).
        Who did you see today?
         - I saw him today. Since you're answering with him, then the question needs to be changed to: Whom
         did you see today?

Do we get it? Great! To better understand this concept let's look at all those nice and fancy words used in grammar textbooks. You know the words we don't really listen to; the ones that make our eyes glass over and put us to sleep.
The reason why there's a difference between who and whom is because of the sentence itself and whether you are using subjective-case pronouns or objective-case pronouns (don't be fading out on me!). What does that even mean? Well, to put it simple; subjective-case pronouns are pronouns that are being used as subjects and objective-case pronouns are pronouns that are being used as objects. Still not getting it? OK, let me break it down some more. You use subjective-case pronouns (I, you, he/she/it, they, we, who) when the pronoun is the subject of the verb.

Example:
           I drive to work.
           She eats the cake.

Objective-case pronouns (me, you, him/her/it, them, us, whom) are used when the pronouns are a direct or indirect object of the verb.

Example:
           I drove him to work.
           She ate the cake made by them.
         
Better? Aren't you amazed by this new information? I know I am! Enjoy correcting everyone today.

Happy grammar,
KLM
           

P.S.:    Correct use of common incorrect pronoun usage:
            It is I NOT It is me.
            This is she NOT This is her.
            The winners were they NOT The winners were them.

           

Grade School Lied?

The other day I was correcting someone's manuscript. I came across a dialogue and noticed something different about the author's style. Each dialogue started with a capital letter and all the punctuation marks were inside the quotations marks. What was going on? I always learned that if a non-dialogue started the sentence then the verbal part (the part within the quotations marks) was lower cased. You can't have two capital letters in one sentence, right? And what happened to punctuating outside of the quotations marks? I was about to mark everything in red and call this writer a bad grammar student. 

Luckily, I did no such thing. I decided to consult my trusty Chicago Manual of Style. And...I didn't find what I was looking for. I've learned you can only use Chicago, APA, MLA or any other form of academic style for exactly that--academic works (i.e., non-fictions manuscripts). When editing or reading fiction, sometimes different rules apply. So, I had to use my trusty fingers and brain to search for the correct use of quotations marks and dialogue. This is what I found:

                Punctuation Used with Quotation Marks 

                Periods and commas always go inside the closing quotation marks. For example: “Come 

                back next week,” the doctor told Gus. “We can check your blood pressure then.” 

                Question marks and exclamation points go inside the closing quotation marks when 

                only the quoted material is either a question or an exclamation. For example: He asked, 

               “Where are they now?”  She shouted, “The dam broke!”  

                Question marks and exclamation points go outside the closing quotation marks when 

                 the entire sentence forms a question or an exclamation. For example: 

                Who said, “To err is human”?  I have told you for the last time to stop calling me your 

                “little sweetie”! 

                A direct quotation begins with a capital letter unless it is a sentence fragment or an 

                interrupted thought. For example: 

                The travel agent said, “Our city is usually warm in the spring.” 

              “Once,” said Madeline, “my family rode a train to Maine.” 

              “San Francisco remains one of my favorite cities,” the critic reported. “My opinion may 

                change, however, once I see Vancouver.” 

              “Everyone I know likes the stores in Chicago,” said my friend. 

                If the same speaker’s words are longer than one paragraph, begin each new paragraph 

               with quotation marks, but don’t add closing quotation marks until the quote ends. For 

               example: 

             “This is a city I could get used to,” said Ellen, sweeping her hand through the air. 

             “The rent’s cheap, and I can get a job anywhere. I won’t even need a car because I can 

              always ride my bike or take the Metro. 

             “But best of all,” she noted, “I can be at the beach in five minutes.”   (http://www.stlcc.edu/Student_Resources/Academic_Resources/Writing_Resources/Grammar_Handouts/Quotation_Marks_in_Dialogue.pdf)

I also searched in Purdue Owl (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/577/01/) and it basically says the same thing. Amazing how sometimes we believe in something for years only to find out it wasn't true. I guess grade school was wrong. Well, at least in my case. 

Lesson for today?

Always relearn rules. No matter if they pertain to grammar and spelling, or just every day life. You'll be amazed how much has changed or that maybe it was taught incorrectly in the first place. 

Happy grammar,

KLM